Best audio quality?
- Thread starter Filumo
- Start date
In order of best to worst:
Audio CD (Red Book)
SD Card or Jukebox uncompressed (linear) audio
=SD Card 256 kbps AAC
=SD Card 320 kbps mp3
AMI Cable uncompressed audio
AMI Cable compressed audio
Streaming, WiFi & Bluetooth
Audio CD (Red Book)
SD Card or Jukebox uncompressed (linear) audio
=SD Card 256 kbps AAC
=SD Card 320 kbps mp3
AMI Cable uncompressed audio
AMI Cable compressed audio
Streaming, WiFi & Bluetooth
I was getting average sound with the SD card until I tried some decent high bitrate files and it is actually quite impressive now. The iPhone seems to play 256k files better than the SD card for some reason.
I have my reservations about this, knowing just what the audio goes through if its a lightning connector on the iPhone.
See: http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/cd-holder.215081/#post-2140450
256k what though? Subjectively 256k HE- AAC v2 can sound "nicer" than 320k mp3.
It wasn't very scientific to be honest, I shoved 50 songs on the iPhone and 50 on the card, they weren't all the same format. I scanned through all the tracks and the iPhone had better separation and depth in general, the card sounded a bit flat. I really need to use 10 identical files/formats on both media to declare a winner.
I presume the card & iphone use the same DAC in the car since the iPhone is through the lighting cable?
I presume the card & iphone use the same DAC in the car since the iPhone is through the lighting cable?
Going off at a slight tangent, am I likely to notice much of a difference between 320kbps MP3s and 256kbps AACs?
I have a bunch of music in FLAC format that I converted to 320kbps MP3s just because that's what I know, but I've noticed now that foobar2000 does AAC conversion too, albeit with a number of encoder choices.
I have a bunch of music in FLAC format that I converted to 320kbps MP3s just because that's what I know, but I've noticed now that foobar2000 does AAC conversion too, albeit with a number of encoder choices.
Did a quick search and general consensus is you'd be hard pushed to notice the difference, it would probably depend on the track and the amount of compression it needed apparently
No.
Read through the link in post #4 above, iphone through green or yellow collar AMI is tortured.
Cheers, I probably should have read that first.
I'm going to try a few different formats tonight.
960k AAC files play from the SD card no problem at all, don't sound any better than 320k AAC though, well not with that particular recordings anyway.
Yeah, I'm raking through various music files on my Mac, I've got some (roughly) 4000k tracks too that were fed from a sound desk for a demo. I'll grab a couple of screenshots. I've got 31000 tracks from many sources so I'm trawling through them and trying various things.
It appears they're lossless, in my defence it was a late night..
Got to trawl through this lot..
Got to trawl through this lot..
Hahahaha I did wonder !!!
TBH, on AAC, anything over 256 - 320 kbps is just a waste of space, as I defy anyone to tell the difference, especially in a car, even with *** or B&O !!
TBH, on AAC, anything over 256 - 320 kbps is just a waste of space, as I defy anyone to tell the difference, especially in a car, even with *** or B&O !!
It appears they're lossless, in my defence it was a late night..
Got to trawl through this lot..
You listen to Avenged Sevenfold?
You sir have good taste.
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Not to nit-pick but I'd put FLAC (or similar lossless but not necessarily uncompressed) at the top, as the CD ripping should be done with superior error correction on your PC vs. in-car CD player (and can also be cross-referenced against online CD databases for even greater accuracy).
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Ah, thanks for that, yes I forgot about FLAC or lossless, as I don't use those formats on a daily basis!
I've found that MP3 at 320k or AAC at 256k-320k sounds very good and at that bitrates the SD Card sounds better than the AMI lead/iPhone.
My HDD iPod sounds better than the files on my SD card, I'll have to go and check what bitrate they've been exported at. HDD iPod is on its last legs, leaving it out in the cold is not helping the battery 
I have alot of FLAC but can only really hear the difference on my home headphone setup. Didn't know the car would play it.
I have alot of FLAC but can only really hear the difference on my home headphone setup. Didn't know the car would play it.
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My HDD iPod sounds better than the files on my SD card, I'll have to go and check what bitrate they've been exported at. HDD iPod is on its last legs, leaving it out in the cold is not helping the battery
I have alot of FLAC but can only really hear the difference on my home headphone setup. Didn't know the car would play it.
IIRC FLAC only works on tech pack cars. It does on mine and mine's a tech pack car!
Thanks. I won't bother trying
As a side note, has anyone had any success putting playlists on the SD card? Seems the major benefit of the ipod is to browse by artist, album, playlist etc.
